Hello, I don't have any electronic music experience so I'm looking to get my first piece of equipment. The emx looks pretty good for trance and house. These are genres I like and would have fun playing with but the kind of music that makes me want to invest time and money into making it is thing with a little more "knock" for lack of a better term. I don't know any electronic music jargon really. I've heard it referred to as "scratchy" but to me that should describe a dj scratching not a synth sound. Also possible a "zipper" sound? Ok, here are two examples of the kind of sound I would like to make:
This is some sort of electro remix of a brit-pop group:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xnQS7tpPNbQ
New Young Pony Club - Ice Cream (Van She Remix)
And this is a rap beat used by a mainstream rap group:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-05gpg23ngs
G-Unit - I Like The Way She Do It (Instrumental)
Is it possible to make those kind of sounds and beats on a emx? Everything I see on youtube is sort of trancish, house or some kind of video game music. I really don't want to spend 500 bucks to make music that sounds like it's from megaman. No offense to the music producer of megaman but that is not the kind of sound I want...
Even if it can only make stuff that sounds like 90s trance and house I will probably still buy it to learn my way in electronic music but if any of you experienced members see that there is a better fitting equipment for me, please let me know. I only have around a $500 budget for the moment so I know some retail cd quality thing is not going to happen.
Also I'm still kind of tempted to go the strictly hip-hop route for now and get a sampler either esx or mpc-1000. But I feel like the emx will give me more chance to explore different genres were as a sampler with no other gear will be fairly limiting to hip-hop.
is an emx right for me?
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MagpieIndustries
- Junior Member
- Posts: 90
- Joined: Thu Jan 24, 2008 1:23 pm
I think you'll find the emx very suitable indeed if you want to do stuff like those tracks you mentioned. i'd recommend going for that.
I dont know about the mpc really, but the esx is definitely not limited to hip-hop, in fact it's capable of quite a lot of different styles. The sounds in the emx are flexible, but leans heavily into trance/house/electro (in your case, this is all a good thing). The esx however can load up different loops and samples and sound different.
in your case, the emx is perhaps more interesting. you can come up with complete songs on it, in the styles you asked about, straight out of the box. this is a really great thing. I find my esx to be more involved, I end up transferring samples between it and computers and so on, adding effects to the samples with the computer and transferring them back. I am into glitchy, dubby techno and want very precise control of certain sounds, so I end up using the computer a lot in my production. which isn't any fun. the emx is just pure fun fun fun. get one!
I dont know about the mpc really, but the esx is definitely not limited to hip-hop, in fact it's capable of quite a lot of different styles. The sounds in the emx are flexible, but leans heavily into trance/house/electro (in your case, this is all a good thing). The esx however can load up different loops and samples and sound different.
in your case, the emx is perhaps more interesting. you can come up with complete songs on it, in the styles you asked about, straight out of the box. this is a really great thing. I find my esx to be more involved, I end up transferring samples between it and computers and so on, adding effects to the samples with the computer and transferring them back. I am into glitchy, dubby techno and want very precise control of certain sounds, so I end up using the computer a lot in my production. which isn't any fun. the emx is just pure fun fun fun. get one!
I don't own an EMX-1, although I am familiar with them. I also think you'll do just fine with buying one. Do haggle it down a bit though. You should be paying around $400-$450, not $500. (save the extra for a smartmedia card?)
Bear in mind that if you are just starting out as you say, then there's a LOT to learn. Don't get discouraged, and just keep turning knobs and pressing buttons. Remember that these boxes are pretty much hard wired, and there's not a lot you can do, short of pounding on it with a hammer, that will really screw it up.
I'd also like to point you at <a href="http://matrixsynth.blogspot.com/2006/12 ... -live.html"> this series of "how to" videos</a>. I found it really useful to see how someone else does it, and you can learn a lot just following along, and seeing what controls he manipulates to do what to the sound.
On a final note (sort of off topic), I hadn't heard "Ice Cream" before, and although I'm not a big fan of the vocal style, that bass is absolutely fantastic. I went right out and tweaked one up on my radias. It's now my sound of the day. THANKS!
Fierball
Bear in mind that if you are just starting out as you say, then there's a LOT to learn. Don't get discouraged, and just keep turning knobs and pressing buttons. Remember that these boxes are pretty much hard wired, and there's not a lot you can do, short of pounding on it with a hammer, that will really screw it up.
I'd also like to point you at <a href="http://matrixsynth.blogspot.com/2006/12 ... -live.html"> this series of "how to" videos</a>. I found it really useful to see how someone else does it, and you can learn a lot just following along, and seeing what controls he manipulates to do what to the sound.
On a final note (sort of off topic), I hadn't heard "Ice Cream" before, and although I'm not a big fan of the vocal style, that bass is absolutely fantastic. I went right out and tweaked one up on my radias. It's now my sound of the day. THANKS!
Fierball
Genre doesn't matter. A good tune is a good tune.
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jerseykorg
- Posts: 35
- Joined: Thu Oct 02, 2008 5:43 am
Yeah, I think I will get it. Only other thing I think about is maybe a used Triton? They seem to be around 750-800 range. Seems like everyone from Moby to Pharrell uses them. They look a little intimidating though (and take up a lot of space). Also it looks like for around the same price as the emx you could get some pretty good software samplers but they just don't look as fun to use especially without any experience. I think I'll go with the emx and then later when I get some experience maybe buy some sampling software for my pc to put samples over the synth tracks? Is that feasible?
What do you suppose the learning time is till you can sort of imagine a beat and be able to create it to sound as you imagined? 3-5 years maybe?
What do you suppose the learning time is till you can sort of imagine a beat and be able to create it to sound as you imagined? 3-5 years maybe?
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FreshHorses
- Full Member
- Posts: 107
- Joined: Sun May 11, 2008 8:36 pm
I find for myself that I rarely think up something and then try and create it on the emx-1. useally I just mess about with it until something good happens. But as far as drum beats, you will be able to program any beat on the emx that you can tap out with your fingers.jerseykorg wrote:Yeah, I think I will get it. Only other thing I think about is maybe a used Triton? They seem to be around 750-800 range. Seems like everyone from Moby to Pharrell uses them. They look a little intimidating though (and take up a lot of space). Also it looks like for around the same price as the emx you could get some pretty good software samplers but they just don't look as fun to use especially without any experience. I think I'll go with the emx and then later when I get some experience maybe buy some sampling software for my pc to put samples over the synth tracks? Is that feasible?
What do you suppose the learning time is till you can sort of imagine a beat and be able to create it to sound as you imagined? 3-5 years maybe?
The thing about the emx is you just have to go with what it does best, which is pretty synthy and minimal. If you are trying to do hip hop production based around old fuzzy breaks and rhodes sounds, you will become frustrated.
Emx is awesome for learning the basics of synthises and beat making thou.
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jerseykorg
- Posts: 35
- Joined: Thu Oct 02, 2008 5:43 am
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jerseykorg
- Posts: 35
- Joined: Thu Oct 02, 2008 5:43 am
So I've been doing some more reading up on them, going through the manuals, etc. to help decide. Then I saw there is a problem with fuses in this device sometimes. Are the newer released ones produced with a better fuse? I have seen a few cheap used esx for sale but I don't want to just get some mystery esx that I don't know it's history or the seller if there is a chance of technical problems. Also I have seen authorized dealers who sell a refurbished device. Would these have an updated fuse maybe? Last summer I had a $360 motherboard in my pc become a brick and real ruin my finances. I don't want to take any risks here. Also I saw a post of someone bringing in an emx with a bad fuse to a korg dealer in nyc and get a rip-off price for repair. At first I wanted to go to a independent audio shop to get it but maybe it's better to buy from a big corporate place like guitar center? I have enough money to buy a brand new legit one but the used ones can be as much as $150 cheaper which would be pretty nice to save. Thoughts on where to purchase it? Comments on fuse issues?